Unlike primaries that many of us are familiar with, the Democratic caucuses isn’t a show up at the poll and cast your vote experience. Caucuses are more of a big tent political meeting with all Democrats in the State invited to attend. There will be 40 of these meetings, or caucuses, across the state, one in each Kansas Senate District.
If you want to know where your caucus will be held, start by finding out what Senate District you’re in. For example, most Northeast Wichita residents live in the 29th Kansas State District represented by KS Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau. Democrats from the 29th District will meet at the WSU CAC Theater.
We have a list of caucus locations for some of our major distribution locations, but if you live in an area not listed, a complete listing of locations can be found at ksdp.org.
To participate in your caucus, you need to show up at the designated location and register between 1 and 3 p.m. The caucuses should get underway around 3:30 p.m.
Who can participate in the caucuses?
Any person who is eligible to vote in the state of Kansas and who will be 18 years old on Election Day, November 8, 2016, may participate in the Kansas caucuses. These individuals must reside in the Senate District in which they wish to participate, and they must be registered as a Democrat.
Voter registration and party registration will be available at all caucus locations, so even if you;re not registered you can participate. If you’re not registered, bring your proof of citizenship and make it easy to complete your voter registration per Kansas’ SAFE Act.
How do the Democratic Caucuses Work?
Eligible caucus goes divide to form Presidential preference groups. If a preference group does not have at least 15% of the total caucus goers, people from that group will have an opportunity to join another preference group or acquire people into their group to reach the “viable” of 15% level. Delegates are then awarded to the preference groups based on their size.
Here’s an example: if 300 people show up and 100 people prefer Hillary Clinton, 100 people prefer Bernie Sanders and 100 people prefer Martin O’Malley, then the delegates allotted to that District (we’ll use 9 for this example) will be assigned: 3 for Clinton, 3 for Sanders, and 3 for O’Malley.
Convention Delegate Selection
After the preferences at your Senate District caucus are determined, you can leave. However, if you’re interested in being a delegate to the Congressional District meeting, or a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, you need to stick around. The next order of business is to select the representatives to the four U.S Congressional District Meetings scheduled for April 2. For more information on that process, read the story online at www.communityvoiceks.com.
